Story time folks!
Today, Baïka Magazine's team tells you the legend of the Wawel dragon, and also shares with you the illustrations I have made to go with it (issue #14). The video is in French.
Enjoy :)
My submission for Amelia's Magazine 10th Anniversary open brief, 'That Which We Do Not Understand', is at last finished. It is entitled At The Root Of The Stars.
I have always been fascinated by storytelling and superstitions, the fertile imagination people have when they try to explain the world surrounding them. My illustration is somewhat a celebration of that imagination. To add my contribution to the great tapestry of tales (as I like to call it), I came up with my personal explanation of the origin of the stars, how they were created.
It all began in a far off forest, at night, a very long time ago. A witch and her unicorn were weaving stars while crows hung them up in the sky. The witch cut her beautiful red hair and let it spin into golden stars with the help of the unicorn's horn. There are references made to the spinning wheel; the image of weaving and spinning are beautiful allegories for storytelling.
Amelia Gregory, the creator of the magazine, has launched a KICKSTARTER campaign to fund the publishing of a limited edition book and fine art prints (beautiful prints with real gold leaf!). Many very talented illustrators have taken part in this beautiful and exciting project - Anna Jane Searle, Daria Hlazatova, among other amazing artists! Your help in spreading the word and supporting the project would be very much appreciated.
personal work, 2014.
Black ink, gouache, coloured ink, watercolour, and watercolour pencil, on mixed media paper. A4 format.
A few weeks ago, I had an exam wherein I had to write a story that would end by the following sentence : "if you run after two hares, you will catch neither".
It was a very interesting exercise, I had much fun!
Here is my fairy tale.
Once upon a time, far off the land, lived in a remote castle a princess named Alice. She was a spoiled girl who could have whatever she wanted – thus she had never had to choose. When she was given the choice to have either a black horse or a white one, she took them both.
Her mother Queen Ann was obsessed with finding her a husband who would be the next king when she and her husband King George would pass away – they were very old.
The King was said to be an odd person. He had never said a word of all his life. Some said he was dumb and others said his tongue had been cut some day during a battle. But it was not true. Actually, King George was not timorous, he had always thought that the world was full of people who did not listen to what others said and that it was a waste of time to open his mouth and utter words that no one would listen or understand as it was too difficult – the king was very intelligent, too intelligent maybe. The forest and its animals was his favourite place in the kingdom – that was why he spent his spare time hunting.
One day, Queen Ann decided to organize a ball where all the young men of the realm would be invited. Thus Alice would choose – at last – her husband. So the next evening, all the men arrived at the castle. It had been a hard night for Alice as it was the first time in all her life that she had to make a decision – as in the kingdom the Queen was not given the right to have several husbands.
She had been thinking for several hours when she eventually chose two young men. But it was too hard, she could not decide which one she would marry. Both were handsome, nice, they had beautiful hair – and the most important for Alice, they were both very wealthy, thus they would give her whatever she wanted. The dawn was going to break and Alice still had not made a decision. Her mother could not bear it no more and called for the King to come. The latter arrived and sat. Alice had to wait for a long time before her father looked at her and eventually said : “Dear Alice, if you run after two hares, you will catch neither”.
